More and more people are asking about ”free” criminal background checks. Many criminal background checks claim to be free, but eventually you will find there are a few hidden costs. One of the common traps of this type of background check is that it turns out to be a monthly subscription once you sign up. If you don’t cancel within a few days, you begin to get charged by the month for a service you may never need to use again. The main goal here is to not get locked into something you don’t really need or want.
Criminal background checks are being used for everything from checking out new hires to discovering just who it is that is trying to date your daughter. Even though some claim to be free, it may just be worth the few extra dollars you may have to pay to find out the scoop on the person who is applying for a job with your company or going to be babysitting your children. Free background checks only go so far. You might receive a current address and phone number along with the names of a few family members and the name of the person’s last employer. If your talking about someone who is going to be in contact with your kids, you are want to go into a lot greater detail. You are going to want to know.
Criminal background checks can be obtained from several agencies including your local state police post. The FBI and LexisNexis will also perform criminal background checks for a small fee. When going through government or professional agencies you will need to provide an appropriate reason for wanting to know the information. If you approach the FBI and ask them to perform a thorough criminal history check on someone, you better have a good reason, or they may just try and do one on you. People who normally go to this extreme usually have a good reason for wanting the information and should have no problem obtaining it.
If you are interested in doing the research yourself there are several things you can do. Most criminal cases and convictions are matters of public record and can be found by contacting the court house where case was put through the court. You can also use websites such as whitepages.com and Google search. Whitepages.com will provide the name, address and phone number of a person in question as well as people listed in their household. Google search can also provide information if you know how to navigate the Google site commands. The information may be minimal but combining it with things that can be found on other sites, like Facebook can put together a fairly decent profile.
It doesn’t hurt to do your research!
Categories: General Background Check Tips
